Emblaze (30 page)

He considered the bottle for a moment before taking it. „Thanks," he said.

I nodded and moved on, avoiding his eyes. I hated lying to him.

As we got off the boat, I saw him sipping the drink. He wasn"t enjoying it, but he took another gulp.

„Can you ever forgive me?" Morgan asked, surprising me from behind. I"d been concentrating on Lincoln and righting myself on land. That and trying to comprehend the fact we were now not only on top of an active volcano, but also … the fiery gates to hell.

How did they end up in paradise?

I turned and cocked an eyebrow. "For the part where you dressed me to pimp me out?

Or the part where you knew what you were sending me into and didn"t tell me?"

She actually took a moment to consider the question. "The second part." She smiled guiltily. "You have to admit, you looked hot. So I won"t apologise for that but I
am
sorry I didn"t tell you."

I pulled on my once-black, now sort-of-grey cap. „It"s okay. I figured you were under some kind of Josephine gag order or whatever. Just promise me she doesn"t have anything else like that in store for me."

„Not that I know of …" Morgan le the sentence linger.

Up ahead Josephine was walking with two of her Grigori flanking her and Lincoln not far behind. I"d half expected he to say something to me this morning but thus far she hadn"t even looked in my direction.

„What"s their deal anyway?" I asked Morgan, gesturing towards the other ninjas. They hadn"t acknowledge any of us, nor left Josephine"s side.

„That"s Hiro and Mia. They"ve been at the Academy for four years now. Josephine"s had them working with her for the past two. They"re the head Ghosters and take their position very seriously. Don"t be offended if they never speak to you. Unless Josephine orders them to, they"ll see it as a distraction."

I watched them walking behind her. Josephine wouldn"t even need to see or hear them to know they were there, always reliable. The way they moved, positioning their bodies between her and any object or person of question, was indisputably accurate and silent but deadly.

„So no after-work drinks then," I joked.

„No after work, period." Morgan
wasn"t
joking.

I guess there are people like that in all professions, the first-in, last-out types. I couldn"t help but think of Dad. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my mobile. I"d been trying not to think about home, but I had to know: Had Dad already cut me off?

I turned my phone on and when it finally came to life I was frustrated to see that there was no reception.

One more reason to get off this rock.

Josephine had somehow convinced the Greek authorities to consider closing access to the volcanic island until further notice, citing seismic activity. Spence had moaned he was going to be stuck all day following up what she had started, having to talk to local government to persuade them it was necessary. I thought he was joking but apparently he was the best choice since he could he use his glamour skills to look the part. I also suspected Lincoln liked the idea of keeping Spence and me separated.

The third pair of Josephine"s ninjas walked ahead of us and held notepads. They talked quietly and waved their hands around a lot. I didn"t know what they were pointing at. The whole lava-charred island seemed the same to me - dead. But they must have seen more.

Steph noticed too and was not so subtly inching in their direction. Eaves dropping.

„What about them?" I asked Morgan and Zoe, who was lagging behind us.

„Oh, they"re the Conductors," Morgan answered.

„Conductors?" Once again, I felt naïve that I didn"t know all the terms. It was hard to fit in history lessons around the fight-for-your-life practicals with exiles trying to kill me all the time. Luckily, Morgan didn"t seem to mind explaining.

„You have to think of each Grigori as a type of instrument. No two of us are exactly the same, so when we need to come together in a battle against exiles, the Conductors are called in. they work out everyone"s strengths and how they can be put to best use in different scenarios."

Zoe kicked a black rock towards a pile of other larger black rocks. „Just like baseball.

Fielders, pitchers, basemen." She threw me a cocky grin. „I"m a batter."

Of course.

„What are you?" I asked Morgan.

She shrugged. „it really depends on the fight, but I usually stay on the outer field with Max," she said, continuing with Zoe"s analogy. „We"re both forms of shields. My strength allows me to send out pulses of confusion. If people come across the field I"m working, they lose clarity and usually go back in the direction they came from. Max performs a type of glamour."

„Like Spence?"

„Same theory, different results. Spence glamours himself, people in close proximity and small objects to assist. Max can glamour large spaces. Say we end up in a fight with exiles in a populated area - as long as he"s familiar with the space, Max can keep us hidden so passerby just see the area as if we"re not there."

I nodded, impressed. It now made sense that Max was being so attentive to every detail

- he was making blueprints.

„And together," Zoe said, sweeping an arm towards Morgan, "they make a wicked diversion. Morgan keeps them away and those who slip through see nothing out of the ordinary."

„But can people pass through Max"s barrier and see what"s really happening then?"

„It can happen - if it were just his shield, but no one gets through the both of us," Morgan answered in a way that left no room for doubt.

I wondered where they"d want me.

„On the bench, if it"s up to Josephine," Morgan said before she slapped a hand to her mouth. I realised I must"ve spoken aloud.

„What?" Zoe spat, saving me the effort. „Violet"s our best damn hope!"

Morgan held her hands up in defence. „I don"t know anything, I swear."

Zoe stepped closer to Morgan, formidably so. „Out with it."

Morgan squired under the weight of her glare, and spoke quickly. „I overheard her talking to the Conductors on the boat. She said to make sure the plan wasn"t dependent on Violet in any way. When they tried to argue that her gifts were pivotal if we were outnumbered, she cut them off. I couldn"t hear what she said, but whatever it was it shut them up because they didn"t argue again."

Why does she not want me involved? Does she think I"m just going to stand and let my
friends fight for me?

Maybe it was something else. Maybe she thought I"d already be dead by then
Is that what they were discussing this morning?

Does Lincoln know?

I walked silently at the back of the group, taking a few moments to think. I still hadn"t told anyone about my run-in with Phoenix, or his request - he"d already proved when he took Steph that he was willing to hurt those around me to get what he wanted. If I told Josephine, who clearly had ulterior motives, that Phoenix wanted me to meet him tonight and she stopped me from going, someone I cared about would suffer. No. the risk was too great.

The Conductors called Zoe over to them and I went with her - I needed to find out as much as I could. Although they regarded me with interest when I approached, somehow I knew it was a pretence. I had to hold back my cynical smile. It was all games with these people.

Griffin still wasn"t altogether sure what the Academy knew about me. After Jordan, he had requested - with a side of „demand" - that no one speak of Phoenix"s revelation until we had more information. Of course, that didn"t stop the theories.

It wasn"t comforting that Griffin was so worried about what the Assembly would do if they knew for sure. Obviously, it would not involve a red carpet.

My orders were not to go against Josephine and I"d had every intention of following them, but hearing Phoenix"s politely threat changed things.

Lincoln was walking with Josephine ahead of us on the gravel pathway that snaked around the island. He was looking better - nodding as they talked in hushed tones and pointed to different parts of the volcano. He had his hands full trying to deal with her. She had already accused him of being too caught up in his "connection" to me.

And, Phoenix had said,
only me.

Phoenix would not stop. He would hurt me, hurt everyone I loved. He"d done it to Lincoln when he brought back Nahilius, to Steph by kidnapping her, and now he had threatened Dad.

It will never end.

A tear fell from my eye and I quickly brushed it away.

No time for that.

There would be no good in telling Lincoln. He couldn"t change my mind and it would only make it harder for both of us.

I needed to work out the best way to let everyone know that Phoenix and countless exiles were already here, without revealing that I"d actually seen him.

„
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall
from heaven unto the Earth; and to him was given the
key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless
pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit; as the smoke of
a great furnace…

Revelations 9:1-2

„Zoe, we need to get a sense of the water depth around the island. Can you manage that?" The female Conductor said, as if she barely had any faith in her abilities.

Guess she missed the part where Zoe made an entire mountain rock it out in Jordan a
few months ago!

Zoe shot her a smart-ass smile. "Already done. It"s deep all the way around, but definitely the deepest on the western coast. and …" she looked uneasy and rolled her shoulders,

"There"s something moving in the water. It"s creepy."

„What is it?" I asked, re-focusing on the conversation.

She made a sour expression like she"d just eaten something bad. "Don"t know, just that there"s motion deep down that isn"t a fish, you know?"

The Conductors nodded, wrote down the details and got back to business.

„How many metres to the bottom?"

Zoe bulked. „Do I look like a tape measure? Deep, as in - no needs to go that deep.

Easily hundreds of metres."

„And what about the volcano? Can you sense the energy coming from it, sense what is below? Do you think you could influence it?"

Zoe shifted her weight then closed her eyes for a moment before re-opening them, grim.

„I can"t sense the volcano at all. It"s almost like it isn"t even here. Maybe … maybe if it erupts I"d get a better handle on it …"

Oh, well - there"s something to look forward to.

The Conductors nodded and walked off without another word.

Steph joined us as Zoe muttered, „Damn pencil-pushers. Wait till everything goes wrong, then we won"t see them anywhere."

„What do you think they"re planning?" I asked, watching as they moved further away, now talking with Josephine and Lincoln.

Zoe shrugged.

„I think they"re trying to work out a way to control the volcano. Maybe to disable it or something," Steph said.

We shared a grave look. Even with Grigori skills, controlling a volcanic eruption seemed unlikely. Before any of us managed to put this doubt into words, there was a thundering explosion from where the Conductors had just been. The three of us hit the ground in time to see the showering of what had once been a very large boulder into thousands,
millions
, of tiny pieces, raining down on us like grains of sand.

Josephine stood tall and as we watched in shock she dusted off her hands and walked ahead.

„Well," she said, loud enough for us all to hear, „At least we know my power is not affected hear."

What - in holy hell - is her power?

I stood up, ruffling rock dust out of my hair.

„Show-off," Zoe sniped between coughs as she got up.

„More like homicidal maniac," Steph said looking at her now not-so-cute shorts-and-singlet combo after I pulled her up. Morgan, who had been a little further away, seemed to escape without too heavy a dusting of sand.

Ahead of us, Lincoln grabbed hold of Hiro"s shirt, pulling him back a few steps while exchanging a number of heated words that I didn"t catch. Max and Mia had to step between them to pull them apart. After Lincoln appeared to calm down, eventually resuming his conversation with the Conductors.

We spent the next couple of hours scoping out the volcano. Every now and then Josephine would blow something up, never giving any warning. By the time we were ready to return to the boat, we looked like we"d been rolling around in a dirt bath, though nothing had come as close to us as the initial blast.

Josephine, unsurprisingly, wasn"t marked at all, apart from wearing a smirk of satisafaction.

Zoe, Steph and I broke away from the pack on the walk back to the boat and Zoe filled us in: "She can separate atoms. She Isn"t actually exploding anything so much as pulling things apart with her mind. She explained it to our class once, saying she can look at any natural object and see its billions and billions of atoms. Once she sees them, she can move them. Apparently, though as dramatic as she made it look today, it has its limitations.
She
can"t move anything larger than a pencil. So unless she wants to just separate something into pieces on the ground and have it fall to dust she"s relatively useless on her own."

„So how did she make the rocks move?" I asked, watching Josephine as she walked ahead.

Zoe smiled ruefully. „Hiro"s speciality is gravity, he can remove it for short periods of time in isolated areas, but only enough to lift an object to hover level. The combination of her power and his causes the explosive reaction, a kind of double-effect. There are other Grigori who have well-developed telekinesis, too - Josephine always keeps one of them close."

I shook my head. „She had him raise the rocks so she could make as much impact as possible." I totally agree with Zoe and Steph - she was showing off and it did seem homicidal.

I wondered if it was Hiro or Josephine who had decided to let the explosions" residue come down on us, but didn"t deliberate for long. Hiro would have been under orders.